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In California, it's all about "Cooler Cars"
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Yesterday, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced it had adopted a new regulation that will require all new cars sold in the state to have windows that reflect or absorb heat-producing rays from the sun.
The goal is to help keep cars cooler so less air conditioning will be needed. This will increase fuel efficiency and prevent about 700,000 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. That's the equivalent of taking 140,000 cars off the road for an entire year.
There are two types of glass technology that are likely to be used...
- Infrared Reflective Glass – which uses a coated film placed between two pieces of glass.
- Solar Absorbing Glass – which is laminated using a solar absorbing material that limits solar energy going into the vehicle.
Compared to the cars available today, these new windows will block 33% more heat-producing rays from the sun, thereby cooling the vehicle's cabin by about 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
As side benefits, these windows will also reduce upholstery fading and dashboard cracking.
The new regulation goes into effect in 2012.
CARB also announced another new regulation yesterday that requires more than a dozen landfills in the state to install equipment that captures methane gas.
I don't have the details, but I'm assuming that much of this methane will be used by waste management companies to generate electricity. This is actually becoming more and more of a common practice. In fact, according to the DOE, in 2005, there were roughly 400 operational landfill gas projects in the United States delivering 9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity – or enough to power more than 725,000 homes, and heat close to 1.2 million homes.
In 2007, Waste Management, Inc. reported that there were 427 operational projects in the U.S. delivering 1,275 megawatts, as well as 550 candidate landfills identified by the EPA. Combined, these projects would amount to 2,595 megawatts, or enough to power more than 2.3 million homes.
To put that in perspective, based on the 2006 U.S. Census, which estimated housing units data, this is enough juice to power every housing unit in the states of Delaware, Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota, North Dakota, and the District of Columbia, combined.
Methane (which is about 50 percent of landfill gas), is 23 times as potent as CO2, and has more than doubled its atmospheric concentrations over the last two centuries.
For more info: CARB, Alternative Energy Investing
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